‘Slut: The Play,’ an Empowering Story for Young Women

By SHARON MASHIHI In “Slut: The Play,” Katie Cappiello captures the trauma of sexual assault based on the stories of teen-agers in her theater company. A member of the cast, Mary Miller, says that the play inspired her to tell her own story for the first time outside a therapist’s office. Cappiello says, “Who better to speak this truth than those who face it day in and day out?” In a conversation with David Remnick, she explains what she’s learned from working with teen-age boys on a play about sexual aggression and violence.

Girl Power: An activist theatre company looks at the sexual politics of teen-agers.

By HILTON ALS In 2007, the theatre artists and activists Katie Cappiello and Meg McInerney founded the Arts Effect All-Girl Theatre Company. There, the directors provided a forum for teen-age girls, where they could make socially relevant art. In 2012, a banner year for the Arts Effect, girls from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and […]

This Is What a Feminist Looks Like

By JENNIFER BAUMGARDNER On a bright winter Saturday earlier this year, more than 150 New York City high school students are gathered for a StopSlut Coalition meeting in the cavernous cafeteria of Hunter College on East 68th Street. The room is jumping with bright, puppyish energy, and the students are a gorgeous mishmash of New […]

Monica Lewinsky is back, but this time it’s on her own terms

By JESSICA BENNETT Monica Lewinsky was sitting in a Manhattan auditorium last month, watching teenage girls perform a play called “Slut.” Ms. Lewinsky was in blue jeans and a blazer, her hair pulled out of her face with a small clip. She was wiping away tears. In the scene, a young woman was seated in […]

Here’s a Word That’s Used to Shame Women and Justify Rape

By DANICA LO Tonight, at the Warner Theatre, Slut: The Play will stage its Washington, D.C., premiere. The event will be followed by a panel discussion featuring guests including Glamour‘s editor-in-chief, Cindi Leive, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, House of Cards creator and showrunner Beau Willimon, DC Rape Crisis Center (DCRCC) executive director Sherelle Hessell Gordon, and […]

House of Cards Creator Beau Willimon Wants to Put an End to Sexual Assault

By EMILY CODIK A few years ago, Katie Cappiello posed a seemingly simple question to a group of teenage girls. Cappiello is the founder of the Arts Effect NYC, an acting training program. The girls, part of the program’s female empowerment arm, had just returned from winter break, so Cappiello asked them about their […]

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These High School Students Are Talking About Slut Shaming And Rape Culture In A Whole New Way

By DANICA DAVIDSON Throughout history, the word “slut” has been lobbed at women in order to shame them and make them feel bad about their sexuality. Even if you love the word or hope to reclaim it, every woman will probably be called a slut at one point or another. And the odds of this name-calling […]

Girls for sale: “A Day in the Life"

By LISA ANDERSON A diverse, fresh-faced group, the 20 American girls standing still and expressionless on stage create a striking opening tableau. Between the ages of 13 and 17, they could be anyone’s daughter or sister or cousin - or any sex trafficker’s prey. Their voices ring out, one after another, in a litany of the ways in which girls become ensnared in youth sex trafficking. “I was recruited at my school.” “I met him at McDonald’s.” [...]